Best extra levels for Cleric?

[Kraizimiklune]

I can't see much good in taking Cleric to 20, as the capstones aren't really all that good. So I was going to take it to 17 or 18, then multiclass. I was wondering what you all would consider the best 1-3 levels to splash onto Cleric.

Artificer 2 gives you Repeaters and Runearms, as well as a dog for levers.

Monk 2 gives you Evasion and Wisdom to AC when unarmored.

Paladin 3 Gives you +11 worth of Charisma bonus to saves.

Wizard gives you access to Charm Person (useful for Trickery Domain Clerics), Magic Missile, and possibly Magic Missile SLA if you want it. Also has the possibility of going 3 Wizard and getting the Pale Master Zombie form, which combined with Negative-based Divine Disciple could feasibly be raunchy, although it seems like it'd be worth sacking more than just 3 levels of cleric for something like that. But Still Wizard and Sorc both give serious options.

I'm trying to keep at least one 9th level spell for Implosion and Mass Heal, but talk about what you like.

[Kriogen]

If caster-ish caster, go Cleric 20. Multiclassing will not make your Cleric a better caster. It may not hurt much, but still, it does.

I multiclass if I want an additional role/job/hobby.

Monk2: evasion melee DPS.
Fighter/Paladin 1-3: off-tank.

Do know, you will never be some sort of Kensai or unkillable Defender.

Don't know why you'd go Zombie.

[unbongwah]

Paladin 3 Gives you +11 worth of Charisma bonus to saves.
The real advantage to pal 3 splash IMO is access to Sacred Defender tree; in particular, 13 APs gets you +25 PRR/MRR and +20% HPs (plus a few other perks). If you're making a healer build, you can use Lay on Hands to power Light the Dark in epics.

Also has the possibility of going 3 Wizard and getting the Pale Master Zombie form, which combined with Negative-based Divine Disciple could feasibly be raunchy, although it seems like it'd be worth sacking more than just 3 levels of cleric for something like that.
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/490153-Zombie-Cleric-Build

[Faltout]

Paladin 3 Gives you +11 worth of Charisma bonus to saves.
Paladin 2 gives you +8 worth of Charisma bonus to saves and +1 level of turn undead, +7 to total turn dice, +3 turns.
Probably only worth it as a warpriest melee build.

[SocratesBastardSon]

I know it sounds odd, but I've had a blast running a cleric with 2 levels of arti using rune arm and repeater. Main stats are INT and WIS, and I use Harper tree for INT-based damage. The ultimate utility player: trapping, healing, ranged. Pretty decent for solo work too.

[Enoach]

...
Wizard gives you access to Charm Person (useful for Trickery Domain Clerics), Magic Missile, and possibly Magic Missile SLA if you want it. Also has the possibility of going 3 Wizard and getting the Pale Master Zombie form, which combined with Negative-based Divine Disciple could feasibly be raunchy, although it seems like it'd be worth sacking more than just 3 levels of cleric for something like that. But Still Wizard and Sorc both give serious options.

...

I want to point something out about your comment about Charm Person from Wizard and the Trickery Domain.

First to note that the DCs and Spell Penetration will be based off the class for the Spell. So "wizard prepared spells" will be based off the Caster Attribute of a Wizard (Int) and the Spell Penetration will also be determined by your Wizard Level (as much as 3 if you maintain 17 cleric)

Because of this it is likely the "Charm Person" from the Wizard class access will not have a very high DC.

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In all honesty I think Monk is still a decent splash for a cleric because of the stance bonus as well as the extra feats, the evasion as well as Reflex save bonus.
There is also synergy with Rogue levels and the Artificer class is also a nice direction - However, if going with one of these I would recommend taking Rogue/Artificer as your 1st level for the skill points.

[SocratesBastardSon]

In all honesty I think Monk is still a decent splash for a cleric because of the stance bonus as well as the extra feats, the evasion as well as Reflex save bonus.
There is also synergy with Rogue levels and the Artificer class is also a nice direction - However, if going with one of these I would recommend taking Rogue/Artificer as your 1st level for the skill points.

That big Rogue skill point bump is awfully nice, but for my build I wanted 18 levels of cleric and a rune arm, so no Rogue for me. So far I'm happy with my choice.

[sithhound]

The real advantage to pal 3 splash IMO is access to Sacred Defender tree; in particular, 13 APs gets you +25 PRR/MRR and +20% HPs (plus a few other perks). If you're making a healer build, you can use Lay on Hands to power Light the Dark in epics.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/490153-Zombie-Cleric-Build

This, or substitute fighter for paladin. Get the same as above, minus the Lay on Hands. Instead you get tower shield proficency and two additional feats. Useful for shield mastery and improved shield mastery, both of which grant additional prr and mp. Shield deflection is another nice choice, as while actively blocking with a tower shield, it grants a 40% chance to completely ignore incoming elemental damage. Pretty nice for a cleric since they usually have crappy reflex saves.

[GreenBastred]

Three levels of Pally is best overall for a caster cleric.

Edit: With the addition of Domains you are getting a boatload of extra DC and SLA skill options.
I like Magic Domain because you have a good boost to overall DC, damage and healing as well as SP pool.
So you may lose i little caster ability with a very strong defensive splash but you have already gained a lot more with a well suited Domain.

[SirValentine]

I can't see much good in taking Cleric to 20, as the capstones aren't really all that good.

Splashing loses caster levels, and thus also spell pen. Capstone gives +2 Wis. DD capstone gives access to a bunch of nice spells.

If you're not a caster build, splash away, but staying pure is best for a caster.

[SocratesBastardSon]

Splashing loses caster levels, and thus also spell pen. Capstone gives +2 Wis. DD capstone gives access to a bunch of nice spells.

If you're not a caster build, splash away, but staying pure is best for a caster.

DD is the only useful cleric capstone. If a person doesn't want to do DD, then... And for casters, pure is usually best. However, a few caveats:



If someone is using cleric to get through racial lives, which is what I'm doing with my Cleric 18/Arti 2, then the capstones and 20 levels in the caster class, are pointless. But if you go into epic as an offensive caster, then pure is best.
If the goal is to play a healer into epic, then pure is less important, especially if you have Cacoon. Splashing some Pally to shore up defenses makes sense. (Are healers considered casters? Maybe not.)
I think domains reopen this question for casters. E.g., a necro-cleric taking death domain gets enough bonuses to necro DCs, or an evocation build benefits from Magic Domain so that it makes up for the loss of a couple caster levels. Of course, more is better, so there is an argument for an appropriate domain plus pure.


So even with a caster, there are cases where one could justify splashing in a bit (2 levels max, imo) of something else.

[GreenBastred]

Splashing loses caster levels, and thus also spell pen. Capstone gives +2 Wis. DD capstone gives access to a bunch of nice spells.

If you're not a caster build, splash away, but staying pure is best for a caster.

A level 17 Cleric you are a maximum level 9 caster. The capstone grants 2 Wisdom which is 1 DC.
The extra capstone skills are nice but its a trade off which comes down to personal choice. Are the skills or defenses gained from the splash worth it
to the player.

[FuzzierSage]

Splashing loses caster levels, and thus also spell pen. Capstone gives +2 Wis. DD capstone gives access to a bunch of nice spells.

If you're not a caster build, splash away, but staying pure is best for a caster.

A 2-level FvS dip can go a long way towards letting you keep casting though, especially if you're already making use of the Lightside SLAs in Divine Disciple.

Scourge, Smiting and Just Reward are all nice boosts for a Light-focused offensive Cleric, and if you combine those with a Domain like Death or Knowledge, you can make up some of the loss from losing the +2 Wis/2 Class Caster levels/ 1 Capstone Caster level (relative to pre-Domain days, anyway).

You're basically trading 3 Spell Pen/4 DC for up to 30 Spellpower, 4% Spell Crit and 10 Temp SP-on-Crit.

That's a fairly decent trade if you're still able to make your DC spells stick. Death Domain alone makes up the DC loss on your Necro spells (relative to pre-Domain), and Knowledge Domain would make up the Spell Pen difference (again, relative to pre-Domain days). So you'd pick based on what you think you'd have more trouble with relative to your available Past Lives/equipment/etc

You're trading the equivalent of several Past Lives for a combination of something worth several Past Lives (Light spellpower through Morninglord Iconic) and something that you can't replicate through Past Lives at all (spell crit/regenerating temp SP).

Though if you went for Disciple of Darkness instead, there's far more of a case for staying pure.